It is known to provide composite vehicle components wherein a portion of the component is manufactured of a metal and another portion of the component is manufactured of a non-metallic material. As a non-limiting example, cam carriers may be manufactured of non-metallic materials for attaching to metal vehicle cylinder heads, for example made of aluminum or other machined or cast metal. Examples of such composite materials include componentry manufactured of materials such as thermoplastics and thermoplastic resins, fiber-reinforced thermoplastics and thermoplastic resins, carbon fiber-reinforced materials, Kevlar-reinforced materials, materials reinforced with other synthetic fibers, and the like, intended to be attached to other cooperating components manufactured of composite or non-composite materials such as aluminum or other metals or alloys.
During fabrication of vehicle components from composite (or non-composite) materials, it is often necessary to provide internally threaded bores to allow securing such components to other cooperating components. As an example, it is known to fabricate a cam carrier of a thermoplastic resin, and to include a plurality of internally threaded bores to allow securing the composite material cam carrier to another vehicle component made of a composite or other material. During vehicle fabrication, the cam carrier is aligned with and secured to a metal cylinder head, and a camshaft is secured to the cam carrier by a plurality of bearings. Conventionally such internally threaded bores are provided in a cast, molded or otherwise formed composite material by cutting a suitably dimensioned bore using a bit that concurrently forms the desired internal threads therein.
Such composite materials are suitably durable for fabricating vehicle components by a variety of molding and casting processes, and provide an additional advantage of lighter weight, which in turn realize advantages of lighter weight vehicles, improved fuel efficiency, etc. In turn, because composite materials can be formed into components by more convenient and versatile casting or molding methods rather than only by machining metal to a desired shape, more complex component designs are made possible which are faster and less costly to fabricate. However, composite materials can be less durable than conventional metallic materials, particularly when formed into thinner elements such as thin sidewalls, screwthreads, and the like.
Because of the lesser durability of composite materials compared to traditional metals and alloys, manufacturers provide supplemental measures to address the challenges associated with fastening composite components to one another or to adjacent, potentially non-composite components, that is to provide the desired clamp load while reducing the potential of fracture of composite material screwthreads such as in bores defined in the composite materials. Such measures include use of adhesives and/or metallic inserts with and without crush limiters to provide a desired clamp load between adjacent components fastened to each other and to reinforce the clamping loads possible with composite material screwthreads. While effective for their intended purpose, such measures add cost and complexity to the manufacturing process.
To solve the foregoing and other problems, the present disclosure describes systems and methods for providing internally threaded bores in vehicle and other components. Advantageously, the described systems and methods provide composite material components having threaded bores defined in predetermined portions of the components, allowing easy alignment with and securing of the composite component to an adjoining vehicle component.